SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

So this is Texas. It's hot.

Damn hot.

On my arrival today, someone asked me if it gets this hot in Australia. "Only in winter," I replied.

The cast and crew have been booked into the Emily Morgan Hotel. It's a beautiful hotel that was once a hospital. San Antonio is a place of much charm. The Alamo, a famous American historical landmark, is just across the road from the hotel. I recall being taught about it in highschool history classes back in Australia.

The San Antonio production offices are just around the corner from the Emily Morgan. I shall be a set PA (Production Assistant) once filming starts in two weeks. Until then, I shall be an office PA. I'm not real sure what a set PA is, but I'm told that the days are long, and that it's character-building. The long days don't come as a surprise, as the past few weeks in LA have shown me that people who make movies don't knock off work after eight hours -- something that this musician is, surprisingly, getting used to... on some mornings.

Last night was the first night that I got to hear the sounds of the Jim Cullum Jazz Band, who are to play a role in a garden-party scene with Celeste Holm. These guys are great. Playing mostly traditional jazz, they are all individual characters in their own right, and I look forward to hearing them play over the next six weeks.


THE ZAP PRODUCTION OFFICE

The offices of ZapPictures are in an old building that has the feel of the late 1950's, complete with manual lift operators. The problem is that the lift operators only work 'til 6 pm. Anytime after that, and you have to lug what has to get to our offices up the stairs to the fourth floor.

Marshall, Jim and the rest of the department heads are busy and never seem to have time to think while making major decisions that will affect the outcome of the film. The mobile phone is constantly connected to their ears.

With the arrival of the actors, the rehearsals have started; sets are being built, shooting schedules planned, casting for minor acting parts taken, and the recasting of a more major role.

The arrival of Max Day, First Assistant Director, has seen me assigned the role of set PA, under his orders. Today we drove with Brendan Fraser, Joanna Going and Jim Robinson out to a rehearsal at Mission San Jose. It's a hot day, and the mission definitely has a magic about it.

I'd been informed by Max that part of my job as a set PA is to make sure the public don't interrupt the rehearsals and filming with requests for autographs and photos. This days was very quiet at the mission, so it was a casual couple of hours. I wrote a letter to my family while listening to Jim's script come to life. Both actors are friendly and easy to talk to. On the way out to rehearsal on the set they exchange ideas about their lines.

After rehearsal, Max and I stop for a Pizza Hut all-you-can-eat-for-5-bucks and I try to suss out his vibe.


THE JIM CULLUM JAZZ BAND, AND THE LANDING

Most nights, I make my way down to The Landing to catch the last one or two sets by the Jim Cullum Jazz Band. The Landing is the club that's owned by Jim Cullum, and where the band performs six nights a week. In San Antonio, there is a river that runs through the centre of town, one flight down from street level. Along the river are many restaurants, bars and clubs that entertain many tourists and locals. This is called the Riverwalk. The Landing is located on the Riverwalk, downstairs from the Hyatt hotel. During the afternoon, there's a piano-and-sax duo playing in the outdoor area that faces the river. While fulfilling my duties as a PA, going to Starbucks' to get coffee for the office, I often pass by and feel the urge to do what I usually do -- perform on stage. At night, the band performs to an audience that often travels far to hear the band that has been playing for thirty-one years. A great atmosphere is created in the club, with pictures of the band from over the years, and large blown-up photos of Jim Cullum with the likes of Louis Armstrong. After a long day working as a PA, I find that there is nothing better than a beer and a set or two of listening to these guys perform.


THE JIM CULLUM BAND RECORDINGS

I was scheduled to pick up "Still Breathing" Music Supervisor, Barklie Griggs, Friday afternoon from the San Antonio Airport. Barklie and I would then check out the recording studio in preparation for the recordings scheduled for the next day, Saturday. On the Friday morning a phone call come into the office from Barklie, who said he was still in LA, and that he had been struck by food poisoning while his plane was taxiing down the LAX runway. The plane was then wheeled back to the terminal and he was rushed off to hospital. This was a disappointment as I had spent a fair amount of time on the phone to Barklie, in working out the musical side of things, and was looking forward to hanging out with him in Texas.

On the day of recording, I arrived at M Studio at 8:00 am to meet the piano tuner. The musicians' first call was at 9:00 am, and that was the time the piano tuner finally arrived. Luckily, the piano was still in tune after having been tuned when delivered the day before.

At about 8:30 Marshall (Producer) and Jim (Director) arrived.

In "Still Breathing," Celeste Holm's character, Ida, plays tuba, and so well-known tuba player Sam Palafian was flown in from Phoenix to record the parts for lda's scenes. Jim had the classical pieces "Prelude to La Traviatta" and "Berceuse" arranged so that they're in the genre of traditional jazz.

Sam Palafian and Cornet player John Carroll recorded their parts for the duets on Prelude to La Traviatta, Berceuse, and "Invention No. 1". One of these will be used for the scene in which Celeste and Brendan do a duet together while floating on the San Antonio river.

While Sam and John were recording their parts, I started to take notes on the different takes recorded during the day, and what the Director's thoughts on each take were. Jim Cullum had requested that the studio engineer for the day be flown in from out of town. His name was Tommy Loy. Tommy had recorded many times in the past with Jim and his band and it became obvious that he knew how to pull a good sound. The band arrived and started setting up around 11am and Tommy, who is a great trumpet player himself, pulled a warm vibe out of the desk.

Jim Robinson had gotten the piano player, John Sheridan, to do an arrangement of a classical piece by Chopin called "Berceuse." It had almost a blessed glow about it as the haunting sweet melody seeped from the monitors into the control booth. Before the band started playing, Jim had spent time talking to the musicians, explaining in what scenes the music would be used and how he envisaged the scene would be played. Sam Palafian recorded with the band on the songs that Ida would be miming to on set. The Berceuse in particular will be used in a garden-party scene at Fletcher's house.

Once the band started playing, the tape went into almost continuous record mode. Most songs were recorded once or twice with Jim, the Director, giving his thoughts at the end of each take. When a band swings like the Jim Cullum band it becomes obvious that they play together well and often.

Barklie was in contact on the phone throughout the day and Debra, the accountant, made sure that all the musicians signed off at the end of their call. It was a good day for me to get to know the guys in the band a little better and to witness them putting down some good tunes.

"Blue River," "S.O.L Blues," "Fantasy," "Enchilada Man" and the jumpin' "West Moreland Weave." If I remember rightly, Jim Cullum tells the audience at the Landing that the Weave is about a man who used to come home drunk. Thus, his travels home were named the West Moreland Weave. Some of the history that goes with each of these songs is amazing.

It was a long day, but the vibe amongst the musicians was good for the most of it. The band had performed until late the night before and had to do the same that evening. The unbelievably talented young clarinet player Evan Christopher and the dry, but tasty, Trombone man Mike Pittsley stayed for an extra call to do some further recording.

At the end of the day, Tommy Loy mixed down Jim Robinson's selected takes to DAT format while I sat at the computer and typed up the Director's thoughts for the day for his future reference.

Once all this work was completed, Tommy gave me a lift to the office so I could drop all the tapes and DATs off and then we went to The Landing for some coffee and hot jazz. With a packed Saturday crowd, the band was swinging off the audience. You have to love it!!


HAMMOND HOUSE REHEARSAL

Sunday morning; the one day of the week that the alarm isn't set to wake you at some early hour at which a musician is usually stumbling into bed, not out of it. We drove out to the house that shall be the set for "Fletcher's house." A magnificent old home owned by Hall and Pat Hammond. The latter being the most eccentric person I've had the pleasure to meet.

Pat Hammond gave me the tour of the house that Jim apparently had based his script on from early memories, for Fletcher's house. Collections of everything from lollipops to red tape and a beehive in one of the upstairs rooms that was left near an open window for the occupants to come and go as they please. The Hammonds were the friendliest of people and I was glad to be invited to play their piano -- which dates back to the late 1800's -- at any time.

That afternoon we were at the house for a rehearsal with Brendan Fraser and Toby Huss, who plays the character to be known as Cameron. A good friend of the Director's, Ken Ashe, filmed the rehearsal. Once again it was interesting to see the script come to life, though in small parts at a time.

After the rehearsal was over, I sat down at the piano with Julie Lynn, the Producer's Assistant who is a top gal, and Christina Houston, the Director's Assistant, for a sing-a-long at the piano. Brendan joined in on the verses of "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" while viewing the room through his Polaroid camera. He took some interesting photos which I hope to get a copy of sometime. I have a real thing for old black and white photos. Especially at the old piano in such an old house. It really captured the feeling I got on my first day at the Hammonds' house.

Marshall, the Producer, has a dog called Atticus. Atticus thought he'd check out the neighbourhood on this day. After a quick search, he was found and tied to a big piece of wood on the verandah from then on. Atticus is what you'd call the crew mascot and has the personality of a 42 year-old man who likes a bit of love, and gives a bit but won't take no shit from nobody. All this but in a dog's body that needs to be taken out to the toilet every hour or so.

Later that afternoon, Pat and Hall invited us out to a park to fly a kite made of 101 different kites on one string. The red kites stretched way off into the sky like a procession of red ants following the leader. Pat Hammond is a kite enthusiast and in 1977 published a book of kite tales. Below is an excerpt from that book, called "The Kite: More than Meets the Sky."

A boy asked his dad,
"What holds the kite up?"
"The string," his father answered.
"No, dad, the string holds the kite down, not up."

Let's go see what happens.

After flying kites that afternoon, Julie and I went to M Studio to pick up any director's notes from the day before and then went out for dinner on the Riverwalk. We were in need of some healthy vegetables and found some at a Chinese restaurant , over good conversation. Then a coffee with the Jim Cullum Band as a perfect ending to the day.